Field Notes from the Western Flock: A Story and a Prediction
The wild whooping cranes in the Western flock are still about 3 weeks
away from starting the migration. Tom reminds us: Migration in
cranes is a learned behavior from their parents. Whooping cranes are not programmed
to
come to Aransas by genetics. They are brought here by their parents.
Last fall, one juvenile whooping crane on its first migration south
separated from its parents during the migration from Canada. It spent
the winter with sandhill cranes about 70 miles northeast of the whooping
crane winter range at Aransas NWR. How did the youngster know where
to go? This juvenile whooping crane was a record 217th bird in the
flock. Tom makes a prediction about this bird. See Tom’s prediction,
and then watch the next reports to see what happens! Here’s Tom’s
story of the 217th crane:

Field
Notes from the Eastern
Flock: Winter Photos
What have the youngest “ultra-cranes” been doing since
the ultralight planes delivered them to Florida in December? Who
is watching
over them? What are some dangers, and how are they kept safe? Take
a tour to their wintering grounds with our photo journal:

You’re
the Scientist! Challenge Question #2
Compared to the wild Western flock, many details are known about
the captive-bred and reintroduced Eastern whoopers. Each been kept
track of since it was
an egg! This week’s challenge question asks you to take a close look at the hatch
year 2004 cranes of the new Eastern flock, which we’ll soon be
tracking on their very first journey north:

Cranes in Flight: A Beautiful Sight (2 Video Clips)
It’s a rare thing to hear or see a whooping crane, but our video
clips make it possible. These were taken at Patuxent Wildlife Research
Center in Maryland,
where most of the ultralight-led crane chicks have been
hatched. The speaker is Dr. George Gee. In Video 1 (15
sec.) we hear and see a magnificent whooper as Dr. Gee reminds
us there’s only ONE self-sustaining population
of whooping cranes in the world. Why do experts want to
change that? In Video 2 (20 sec.) Dr. Gee explains the
work of Patuxent WRC. Listen for some ways they help endangered whooping
cranes, and watch a beautiful
whooper fly
and land.

Albuquerque
Students’ Crane Projects
Migration is the year-long theme for lucky 4th-8th graders
in Albuquerque, NM. They are using Journey North as the
springboard for projects
and studies. “We
made timelines of the chicks’ development, created life-sized models of
cranes, including a giant tangram crane the students could put together, followed
the migration, and went on a very special field trip to the Festival of the Cranes
at the Bosque del Apache Refuge. Although we don’t have any whooping cranes
at the Bosque right now, the sandhill cranes were beautiful and really brought
to life our studies.” They’ve had a wonderful
time learning about whooping cranes. See for yourself!

Do
you see the Whooping crane among these Sandhill cranes?
Photo Jeff Bahls

Live from the Platte River! Crane Cam Shows You the Migration
Whoopers aren’t there yet, but if you’d like to see and
hear migrating sandhill
cranes, a live camera on Nebraska's
Platte River takes you
there! Our thanks
to Mrs. Kliewer and her students in Nebraska, who reminded
us of the chance to see this amazing migration in real time on the
Internet.
Sandhills by
the thousands
are taking off from the Platte, and whooping
cranes will
soon be in
the mix. (Sandhill cranes are the non-endangered cousins
of whooping cranes.)
Which
of the two migratory flocks of whooping cranes will stop
on the Platte River as they journey north?

Which of the HY2003
cranes was injured by this aluminum can top?
Photo Richard Urbanek, WCEP

Everybirdy's Got a Story: Discussion of Challenge Question #1
Last time we asked: "What has been the biggest risk to survival
of the new Eastern cranes? Back up your answer with examples from
individual crane
biographies."
Most of you said “being eaten” was the biggest risk to survival for
the new flock of reintroduced cranes in the eastern U.S., citing #214 death by
bobcat attack. Eddie K. of Ventura Park also said getting caught in electrical
wires. Roopsi, Brittany, Patrick, Rodney, Melody, Brian, Sohaib, Priscilla, Navdeep,
Tapan and Monica from Iselin Middle School/7th grade added “uneducated
people shooting them down.”
It was a big inventory to search for causes of death of the 46 Eastern
cranes! You did a good job, but there’s more to learn. The Operation
Migration/WCEP leaders, who keep details on every single crane in the new
flock, answered
the question, too. Surprised? You may wish to copy this chart in your journals
and
use it in our lesson in the next section.

Challenges of Rebuilding an Endangered Species: Link to Lesson
Your research to answer the question above was a good start for this
week’s lesson. We've said that only 15 wild migratory whooping
cranes survived in the early 1940s. The US and Canada have teamed
up and worked hard to help the wild whoopers. It took over 40 years
for
the Aransas/Wood Buffalo (Western) population to reach 100 birds,
and another 18 years to reach 200 whoopers. The new Eastern flock
is slowly
growing too, with gains and losses each year. Why does rebuilding
an endangered species take so long? Investigate population dynamics
and
use this chart to record your thinking:

1. Address
an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-crane@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge
Question #2.
3. In the body of EACH message, give your answer to ONE of the questions
above.